Pakistan plane crashed killing 97 because pilots were not ‘focused’ due to coronavirus, says minister

Plane on a routine domestic service from Lahore came down on the approach to Karachi airport

An initial probe into the plane crash near Karachi last month that killed 97 people has found the pilots did not properly carry out a set of procedures and were not “focused” because of coronavirus, Pakistan’s aviation minister has said.

Investigators put the crash down to human error, blaming negligence from both the pilots and air traffic controllers, rather than any technical fault, Ghulam Sarwar Khan told parliament on Wednesday.

He said the Airbus A320 was “100 per cent fit” to fly at the time of the crash, which killed all but two of the 99 people on board.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK8303 was on a routine domestic service between Lahore and Karachi when it crashed on approach to Karachi’s Jinnah International airport on 22 May.

The plane crashed into a residential area half a mile from the airport, causing considerable damage to buildings.

Mr Khan told MPs that the pilots were distracted and “overconfident” during their initial approach to land at Karachi and came in too high and fast when they disengaged the autopilot.

“The pilot and co-pilot were not focused and throughout they were having a conversation about corona. The [virus] was on their minds. Their families were affected and they were having a discussion about it,” the minister said.

The investigation team included French officials and analysed cockpit voice recorders, black box flight data and witness testimony.

The plane briefly touched down in the centre of the runway before the pilots decided to abort the landing. In the process, both the plane’s engines suffered extensive damage.

The plane spent 17 minutes in the air before making a second attempt to land. The probe found that the pilots failed to inform the control tower that their landing gears had locked up at this time.

The A320 crashed as it came in to land a second time, and damaged 29 properties on the ground. Mr Khan said the owners of the properties would be compensated.

According to an earlier report of the probe’s findings by the Express Tribune in Pakistan, investigators found that Civil Aviation Authority officials, the cockpit crew, the control tower and air traffic control at Karachi airport all “repeatedly made mistakes” in the lead-up to the crash and afterwards.

After the crash, fragments of engine were reportedly left on the runway for some 12 hours, posing a risk to other aircraft.

And the airport authorities failed to relieve the air traffic controllers of duty after the crash, as is the normal protocol following such incidents. They remained on duty until the end of their shifts that evening.

The aircraft itself was 16 years old and entered the PIA fleet in 2014. Its black boxes were recovered after the crash and did not indicate any technical failures, the probe found.

As well as presenting the report to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Khan provided it on Monday to prime minister Imran Khan, who had called the “immediate inquiry” and said he was “shocked and saddened” at the time of the crash.